I heard that they want to make prices higher. Is it truth? That's will be very funny - ordering CD for $19.95 and pay same price for shipping. Hope, this is rumor. Or most of non-US residents can miss great scores, while they wait for another CD to make combo package...

I received 'Rising Sun' yesterday in the mail and I have played it at least four times already. Just as I predicted this disc will spend a lot of time in my CD-player. With headphones you can even better appreciate his ability to combine subtle texture and colour with such fastidious care.

As well as a respected concert composer Takemitsu was a devoted cinephile and said he watched a movie a day. The ability to go back-and-forth between film music and concert music was an exceptionally stimulating process for him. He loved the challenge to capture the sonic essence of a film. And I think he was very successful in this respect with his haunting music for Rising Sun as is now revealed by this complete score presentation. Bruce already mentioned this would be an entirely different experience from the previous release and it really is. I found the old CD hard to listen to because of the way the selections were mingled with Porter and Ellington. But now, just listen to track 12 'Looking at the disc' or track 18 'Security room'. It creates the illusion of music drifting into being, a unique minimalism without excesses, sounds like snow falling in cold air.

Takemitsu did not expect his music to be understood by the head alone. For him, music must penetrate the heart and soul, as much as the brain. The perceptions that we derive from music are also unique and personal. What is "understood" by every individual listener to a certain piece of music may be different from what is "understood" by every other listener. But I can listen to this endlessly. It's, as Bruce calls it, addictive, mesmerizing. Thank you Kritzerland for this newly discovered gem!

On the booklet and backside of the CD-tray it says 'Composed and Conducted by Toru Takemitsu', but that is not true as inside the correct conductor is mentioned, Hiroyuki Iwaki (quite a name in the classical music world). Also it is stated that "Takemitsu began writing for film in 1962..." He scored at least a dozen films before 1962. Among them Crazed Fruit/Juvenile Passions (1956), Jose Torres (1959) and Bad Boys (1961), to name a few.

"Rising Sun would be his first and only American film scoring assignment..." Well, in 1991 he composed music for Night on Earth (1991) by Jim Jarmusch, but it was not used in the film (the recorded music was retitled "L.A., New York, Paris, Rome, Helsinki"). He also did a beautiful score for The Inland Sea (1991) a documentary film by Lucille Carra (based on a book by Donald Richie) and Dream Window: Reflections on the Japanese Garden (1992) directed by John Junkerman (these scores can all be found on The Complete Takemitsu Edition). But no, he didn't do another big blockbuster type of movie.

I finally took the plunge and got this a couple weeks ago as well and have been listening nonstop. In its severely truncated form on the original album release, the score is a good but minor footnote to Takemitsu's output. On this expanded release, the leap in quality is TREMENDOUS -- this score is a masterpiece in its hour long complete form (in fact, I think this is the longest Takemitsu score, and maybe even the longest single composition to his name!). The incredible, nuanced orchestrations and the brooding, sensuous mood are so beautifully realized. The sound quality is fantastic, too! It's hard to believe such phenomenal music was composed for a piece of shit like Rising Sun, ha.

Finally got this along with The Buccaneer. I can see why people aren't so enthusiastic about this release, but it deserves a chance, better yet a listen. I was a big Sean Connery fan at the time, so even though the film is not all it's cracked up to be, I still watch it every 5 years or so. I can't remember how I felt about the score at the time, though I do remember really digging Tsunami, my tastes have changed a lot since then, so what matters now is, I really like it. It's an excellent release, Bruce. Unexpected, yet highly appreciated.

Just like I predicted I have been playing this CD a lot. It's so much better than the original presentation on CD that I hardly played at all. There is a complexity to this music that makes repetitive listening possible without growing tired of it (something I can't say of the recent best song grammy nominees and winners). So excellent value for money. I'm surprised it hasn't sold out yet.

In my joy of finally being able to order this, I accidentally ordered it twice. Bruce could you please be so kind and correct this?

(Not sure my mail to you came through ...)

I'll take care of it in the morning.

Thanks for taking care of it!

Please check your mail-box.

Just e-mailed you back and need you to confirm something. I did not see any of your subsequent e-mails because gmail just bunches them up all in one large thread and I get so much stuff at that address that things just fall to the bottom of the page or worse to another page entirely.

In my joy of finally being able to order this, I accidentally ordered it twice. Bruce could you please be so kind and correct this?

(Not sure my mail to you came through ...)

I'll take care of it in the morning.

Thanks for taking care of it!

Please check your mail-box.

Just e-mailed you back and need you to confirm something. I did not see any of your subsequent e-mails because gmail just bunches them up all in one large thread and I get so much stuff at that address that things just fall to the bottom of the page or worse to another page entirely.

Okay, now I understand - thank you very much! And yes, you're correct about the email-address.